


Mending Hearts

by Lady_Sci_Fi



Series: The Life and Times of Mike Yates and John Benton [12]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:34:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27691454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Sci_Fi/pseuds/Lady_Sci_Fi
Summary: Soon after the incident with the dinosaurs, Sarah becomes friends with Sergeant Benton and the former Captain Yates. She senses there might have been something more between them, something now lost and hurting them both. She's determined to find out what, and help them reconcile.
Relationships: John Benton/Mike Yates
Series: The Life and Times of Mike Yates and John Benton [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978336
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place between "In Need of a Friend" and "After the Spiders" in the "After..." Yates/Benton fic. archiveofourown.org/works/11301627/chapters/25287750

“Mind if I sit with you, Miss?”

Sarah looked up at the sergeant who stood opposite the canteen table. His question had pulled her from her thoughts about Mike Yates and where they could go out to later in the week. “Of course, Benton,” she agreed. It was only two weeks after they had met during that whole dinosaur mess. For some reason, Sarah couldn’t stay away from UNIT despite the madness that and the trip to the Middle Ages had been.

“Thank you, Miss Smith.” Benton sat and started eating his lunch.

“You don’t have to keep calling me that. You can use my name. Sarah.”

Benton smiled shyly. “Habit.”

“I suppose that’s fair enough.” Sarah liked the sergeant. While all had been quiet since the dinosaurs, she could tell he was dependable. He was also kind, gentle, polite… a type of person she wanted as a friend. Especially if she truly couldn’t tear herself away from the potential excitement of hanging around here as the Doctor’s assistant, when she could spare the time away from her real job as a journalist.

“You know, for an army canteen, the food is better than I expected,” Sarah remarked.

Benton chuckled. “Can’t say I’ve known much else in terms of served food.”

“Got to take good care of you lot, especially, I suppose. With what you do here.”

Benton nodded. “Occasionally, we get in the kitchen.” He smiled at a memory. “Some of those times, Captain Yates would make…”

Sarah tilted her head as Benton’s voice trailed off and his expression changed. A cross between anger and sadness. More the latter than the former. “He would make what?” she prompted.

“Never mind.” Benton shook his head. His smile returned, though it was slightly forced. “Anyway… yeah, they do treat us well, here.”

So Mike was a sore subject for the sergeant. She supposed that made sense, since Benton was there when the former captain had apparently gone off the deep end. Sarah filed that away as they continued their conversation.

********

“The Doctor get you back into the Tardis yet?” Mike asked as they walked down the street after a dinner out.

“I’ve managed to still resist,” Sarah laughed.

Mike laughed lightly. “Only a matter of time. How much should I wager?”

“Oh, you.” Sarah shook her head in affection. “Though Florana is really sounding tempting now.”

“I’m sure. I’ve got some leftover dessert at my place if you want any?”

“Can’t turn that down.”

At Mike’s flat, Sarah watched him as he got the cake ready. He opened a cabinet to get plates, and froze as he looked at the cabinet’s contents. Sarah quietly got up from the dining chair to get a better look. Plates, bowls, and on the top, a container of coca, and one of coffee.

This was the second time she had seen him freeze like this. The first time had seemed random, while they were sitting on the sofa watching a football game. But this time, had something in the cabinet triggered it? “Mike?” His back was to her, so she couldn’t see his face.

After a few seconds, Mike shuddered, and his shoulders dropped as he sighed. Sarah barely heard the muttered, “Should move that.” He grabbed two small plates, and turned to her, “Sorry, drifted for a bit.”

“That’s alright.” She looked in the cabinet again, Nothing unusual about the cocoa and coffee. It must’ve been a random spell, but what about the comment he’d made?

Sarah refocused on her friend, who had cut a few cake slices and was now putting them on the plates.

“Nothing too fancy,” he remarked.

“I’m not much of a fancy girl,” Sarah shrugged. She took a bite off her plate. “And it doesn’t need to be. That’s really good.”

Mike smiled, a little shyly. “Thanks.”

********

“Benton?”

Benton flinched and quickly stood, closing the door to the food pantry. “Yes, Miss?”

Sarah shook her head in affection at the man’s insistence of calling her that. Then she noticed what was in his hand. A large tin of cocoa and a bottle of cinnamon. The tin looked familiar. “Fancying some cocoa?” she asked.

Benton glanced down to his hand, and nervously responded. “No, just… doing some cleaning out.”

Why did he look like he’d been caught with something he wasn’t supposed to have? It was just some cocoa. Then she recognized it, the same type that Mike had in his kitchen, the exact same tin. Could be a coincidence, or maybe Mike had a stash at UNIT HQ. She didn’t mention it, and focused on why she was looking for him in the first place. “Well, the Doctor said you wanted to talk to me?”

Benton slipped the cocoa and cinnamon into his pockets. “Oh yes, I was thinking… If you’ll be hanging around here with us, you should learn to defend yourself.”

“You mean with guns and hand-to-hand combat? That sort of thing?”

Benton nodded.

“I can’t argue with that,” Sarah agreed. “Are you offering to teach me?”

“If you’d like me to.”

“Once again, can’t argue with that.”

Benton smiled warmly. “I’ll have time to take you to the shooting range a little later today?”

“I don’t have anything going on. It’s a date.”

True to Benton’s word, about an hour later they were in his car, driving to the nearest army training shooting range. Sarah noticed the tin of cocoa and cinnamon in the backseat, but didn’t verbally question why he was taking that home, presumably.

“Been a while since I’ve gone,” Benton remarked. “It’ll be nice to teach you.”

“Ever get into any competitions with your fellow soldiers?”

“Ah… mostly with one. Apparently, I’m too good for everyone else, and I would usually win against him, too.”

Sarah didn’t miss that little smile, similar to when Benton had mentioned Mike before. Was he thinking of him again? “So, I’ve got the best teacher available?”

“I don’t like to boast.”

“Well, Sergeant, if you’re as good as you say, I’ll boast for you.”

********

Sarah and Mike were having a lull in their conversation, when she noticed he wasn’t really looking at anything in particular. His eyes looked slightly glazed. She softly sighed, wishing there was something more she could do whenever she saw this happen. “Mike?”

Mike ignored her, and she put her hand on his. That was enough for him to flinch and snap out of it. “Sorry, was I… drifting?”

Sarah nodded. “No need to apologize.” She smiled and gently squeezed his hand. “As long as you don’t drift too far.”

“It’s difficult, sometimes, to not do that,” he admitted. A half-smile tugged at a corner of his mouth. “You do help make it easier.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“I was just thinking… how much I miss him- them.”

“Everyone at UNIT?”

Mike nodded.

Sarah had caught the slip and decided to go further. “Anyone in particular?”

“Jo-Benton, the Doctor, the Brigadier…”

Again, Sarah heard the slip. Had that been part of Benton’s first name? She hadn’t heard anyone else call the sergeant by that. Was it something only Mike did?

Mike shook his head shortly in frustration. He withdrew his hand from Sarah’s and stood. He turned from her. “Not that I deserve to see them again. Not when it’s my fault, and what I did was-“

Sarah shot up, grabbed the wrist of Mike’s trembling left hand, and hugged him, so he wouldn’t continue verbally beating himself up. This wasn’t the first time she’d had to do it.

Mike hesitantly wrapped his right arm around her, and quietly asked. “Are you going to do this every time?”

“If that’s what it takes to help you.” She felt his body slightly untense in response.

“Then I suppose it’s a good thing it does.” 

********

“Doctor?”

The Doctor didn’t look up from whatever he was staring intensely at through a microscope. “Yes?”

Sarah sat at the counter across from the man. She cleared her throat a little to draw his attention to her. “Doctor, were… were Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates close?”

Again, the Timelord didn’t look up from his task. “Yes, quite close. They were… a great team.”

Sarah got a slight sense there was something more to it that the Doctor wasn’t telling her, but didn’t push him for it.

The Doctor leaned back with a long sigh. “Poor Mike. Shame we lost him that way.” He tilted his head at Sarah and flashed a teasing smile. “Have you been chatting him up recently?”

Sarah chuckled. “I suppose you could say that, a little. Bumped into him a week after the dinosaurs. We’re friends.”

The Doctor nodded. “How is he?”

“Doing as well as expected, I suppose, considering what happened to him.”

“That’s good. Let him know we miss him, would you?”

Sarah nodded. Her instincts told her there was something more to this, to Mike and Benton. And she wanted to know what it was.


	2. Chapter 2

“Got someone new with you today, Benton?” asked one of the bartenders of the pub as the he and Sarah went to a table.

“Oh, uh… yes,” Benton awkwardly answered, taking off his blue jacket and draping it over the back of his chair.

“Your friend Mike going to join you later?”

Sarah noticed how Benton instantly looked at a loss for words. He finally answered after a few seconds, “Ah… not today.”

“Good,” the bartender joked. “My wife thinks he’s quite the looker. It’ll be nice not seeing her fawn over him.”

Benton’s chuckle came out strained, and he waved to the other man.

Sarah glanced through the lunch menu. She looked up to Benton when she knew he was doing the same. She could tell he wasn’t actually reading it. “Came here often with him, then?”

“Hm?” Benton’s eyes met hers. “Oh, with Mike? Captain Yates, I mean…? Yeah, suppose so.” 

That seemed odd, for that name to come from Benton so easily and casually. And then he had corrected himself, like he wasn’t allowed to use it. Sarah decided what she was going to eat, and put her menu down. “Do you miss him?”

Benton hesitated before he answered, and Sarah saw the gamut of emotions flicker across his face. “Yes,” he said finally. “Yes, I do.” He cleared his throat. “He’s so… was so easy to… to work with, be around.” The statement came out disjointed, as though he was replacing words mid-thought.

“You two were friends, then?”

Benton nodded. He glanced down at the wood grains of the table, his expression melancholy. “Enough where… where what he did…”

“Hurts?” Sarah supplied.

Benton’s eyes widened, revealing that exact emotion in them. He silently nodded. “Anyway, I do miss him. We were good… partners.”

Sarah saw the man’s discomfort, but before she could change the subject, a server came over to get their order. That naturally prompted a topic change, to what Sarah could see was to Benton’s relief. She certainly didn’t want to push her friend into being uncomfortable, despite her wanting to know about Mike before she had met him.

Still, to know Mike and Benton were friends enough that a bartender at a pub called into question Benton coming in without him was certainly interesting. They seemed to have been a pair, both on and off duty.

********

“Have you told anyone else? About everything, I mean?” Sarah asked Mike washed up after their dinner at his flat.

Mike turned to her, his brow raised. “Who else could I talk to? I can’t talk to anyone from UNIT.”

“What about the Doctor?”

Mike shook his head, and refocused on the plate in his hand. He scrubbed at it, even though it was clean. “I can’t. Not after what I did.”

“He’d understand, wouldn’t be upset.”

Mike shook his head again.

Sarah sighed lightly. She didn’t bother suggesting any other friends he might have outside of UNIT, because surely he would’ve gone to them by now if that was an option. “What about a professional?”

Mike finally dried the plate. “Can you imagine?” He dried his hands on the dish towel and fully turned his body to face Sarah. “Hello, I’m having mental problems. I went to Wales, and got my brain scrambled by a computer that tried to make me kill my friends and help it take over the world. Then, a few months later, while I was recovering from that, a nutjob organization-“ He vaguely gestured to the side of his head. “Messed with my head more, made me help them try to commit geno…” Mike’s eyes closed and he made a frustrated noise.

“Sorry,” Sarah replied.

Mike’s eyes opened, and he shook his head. “I’d be admitted before I’d finished telling them anything more.”

“I suppose so.”

“Part of the risk of working in UNIT. Can’t tell anyone anything, and if you do, they’ll think you mad anyway.”

Sarah didn’t know how to comfort him in response, and gave an assuring little smile. She gave it a few minutes, until they had settled on the couch, to ask a sort of follow-up. “Was there… was there anyone with you, before you met me?”

Mike’s brow rose, quickly understanding the question. “What makes you think that?”

“You move about the place like you’re expecting someone else to be here with you.”

Mike stared ahead for a moment. “Do I, now?”

“I wouldn’t say it for no reason.”

Mike’s gaze moved to focus on Sarah. “Would it surprise you if I said no?”

“A bit, yeah.”

Mike snorted a little. “Why’s that?”

“I mean…” Sarah glanced over Mike, then met his eyes again with a coy expression. She wasn’t lying. He was certainly handsome and otherwise physically attractive. And she’d seen enough of him through the depression to know he’d be a nice catch in that department as well. Especially before this trauma.

Mike fully chuckled this time. “Thanks. You’re quite a dolly, yourself.”

Sarah did blush slightly, and let the light moment linger before she prompted, “Hey now, no changing the topic.”

Mike’s flirty smile slowly faded, and he looked down to his hands.

“There was someone, then?” Sarah concluded.

Mike nodded. He took a deep breath through his nose. “That’s over now.”

Sarah scooted forward on the couch cushion. “If you don’t mind, how long ago?” She could see him thinking, determining if he was ready to talk about it.

It took a very long moment, but Mike finally stated, “The night you all took down Operation Golden Age.”

“Really?”

Mike nodded sadly.

“Wow, that’s… a rough night is an understatement.”

“Yes, uh… soon after I came home after the Brigadier let me go, she came home. She figured out that I had something to do with… with the whole thing. I didn’t deny it. She was upset, angry, understandably so. So, she left.” He cleared his throat. “Came back the next evening, when I’d gone out… wandering, and collected her things. Haven’t heard from her since.”

Sarah moved forward again, this time to place her hand on the man’s knee. “I’m sorry.”

Mike shook his head. “Don’t be. It’s the least I deserved. To lose… to lose that, too. Especially with how easy the Brigadier went on me.”

“Don’t say that, Mike.”

“It’s true. I do deserve it. What I did, it’s not… not really forgivable. I should’ve been arrested, court-martialed, the whole lot. But he didn’t do that. He let me go.” He looked up at her again, tears brimming in his eyes. “If this was before, I wouldn’t say it, but now… she deserves better than me. Better than a pathetic, worthless-“

Sarah stopped him from continuing by squeezing his knee. “Those aren’t your words,” she reminded. She knew whose voices those words came from. That BOSS computer and General Finch.

Mike made a sort of wincing sound in his throat. “Point is, she’s better off without me.” He stared down at his hands again. “I’d rather not talk about it more right now.”

“Of course.” Sarah’s hand on Mike’s knees moved up to gently grasp his hand. “I’m glad you told me.”

Mike used the back of his free hand to wipe at an escaped tear on his cheek, then looked to her. He gave her a slow watery smile in response.

So, he’d had a girlfriend, a close one, if they had lived together. He had opened up, but somehow, Sarah got the feeling he’d lied to her about something. A few little observations and details didn’t quite line up in her mind. She couldn’t figure out the specifics of those doubts.

Really, the answer should’ve been clear. Mike and Benton had been good friends. Sadly, one that had ended with Mike’s perceived betrayal. That was the end of it, and maybe someone else would’ve accepted that answer.

But somehow, Sarah had doubts. What was it about these two men, her two friends, that made her have them?


	3. Chapter 3

Sarah knocked on Mike’s door. They had made plans today, so she knew he would be home. Nothing too special, just relaxing in Mike’s flat. 

She knocked again, and after another several seconds with no response, called his name through the door. She gave it a third round. The lack of response worried her, and she fished out her keys from her pocket and singled out the one to this door. Mike had given her a copy of his flat key a little while ago, for her to use to check on him in case he had a severe depressive episode and wasn’t responsive.

“Mike, I’m coming in,” Sarah said as she opened the door. He wasn’t in the living room or kitchen area, and her concern grew. “Mike?” she called out more loudly than before. But all was quiet.

“Mike?” she repeated.

She heard a sound that sounded almost like a yelp from the bedroom. She didn’t catch the word within it. She hurried and knocked on the half-closed bedroom door. “Hey, you alright?”

“Of course… Sarah, not…” Mike’s voice was quiet and disoriented.

“I hope you’re decent,” Sarah warned before pushing the door open.

Mike was sitting on the bed, cross-legged with his head in his hands. He looked up as Sarah entered. At the naked expression of pure… hurt, she rushed to him. She got on the bed and kneeled in front of him. He had obviously been crying, his eyes red and still-fresh tears on his cheeks.

“S-sorry I didn’t… didn’t answer.” Mike wiped at the new tears with the back of his hand.

“Oh, Mike.” Sarah pulled him into a hug. She whispered, “I’m here.”

He buried his face in her neck, unable to hold back his crying.

“What is it?” she asked. “What happened?”

“It’s just… very bad. I can’t…”

One of Sarah’s hands moved up from Mike’s back to gently stroke through his hair.

It took Mike several minutes to pull away. “I-I’m sorry, Sarah.”

Sarah shook her head. “No need to apologize to me.”

Mike shuddered, and wiped at his drying tears. “I don’t know… don’t really know why it hit so hard.”

Sarah gave him a small smile, one she hoped would be encouraging. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them, they still didn’t hide any of the hurt he was feeling, despite him trying to give her a tiny smile in return.

Their eyes locked, and Sarah felt a sudden pull to kiss him. Not only to serve her own general tugs of attraction to him, but to also help him understand how much she cared about him. Help him understand that he deserved someone caring about him. Perhaps it was her imagination, but was there some of that same desire in Mike’s face?

Sarah had to break their eye contact. What kind of person would she be, taking advantage of someone hurting so obviously, someone in so much emotional pain, especially without knowing if it would do any good for him?

She raised her eyes to him again, to find him staring down in the space between them. The momentary desire to kiss him passed. She gently placed her hand on his cheek, and tilted his head up. “What do you say to walking with me?”

“The park?”

“If you like.”

Mike slowly nodded. “That might help.” This time, he pulled her into a hug.

“I’m here,” she quietly reminded.

Sarah felt a flash of anger within her, at the woman who Mike had been with, the one who had left him. It wasn’t fair to this woman, Sarah knew, not without knowing everything about how that had gone down, but if she hadn’t chanced upon Mike a week after the dinosaur incident…

Perhaps the word she hadn't caught in the surprised yelp before he had realized it was her was a name. That person's name. “I’m not going anywhere, Mike.”

********

Sarah couldn’t help but laugh as she and Benton hurried through the streets back to his place, They were caught in quite the downpour, and even having Benton’s jacket on and over her head, which he had given her when the rain had started, wasn’t preventing her from being soaked through.

They finally made it back, and Benton quickly opened the door to his flat and let her in first. Sarah shivered as she slipped out of her shoes and pulled off her socks and left them by the front door to dry.

“You alright, Sarah?” Benton asked.

“Oh, perfectly fine, like I’ve just gone for a swim.” Sarah peeled off the blue jacket and handed it back to it’s somehow even more wet owner.

He placed it on the coathook, then ran a hand through his hair. “Quite a turn of weather.”

“You can say that again.” She tilted her head as Benton shyly glanced away from her. “What?”

“You can stay a while, change into something until your clothes dry enough?” Benton suggested.

“Certainly won’t refuse that offer.” She had already been planning staying a little while, anyway.

“You can have whatever’s in my dresser or wardrobe,” Benton offered.

Sarah gestured with her hand. “Bedroom’s that way, right? Won’t be long. Can’t have you standing there like that.” She carefully but quickly stepped in that direction, not wanting to get his apartment carpet any wetter than necessary. She grabbed a towel from the bathroom on the way.

She dried her face and hair, made it slightly less wet, really. She opened the dresser, looking for a pyjama shirt or button-up one. Something comfortable and long enough. Well, anything would be long enough, with how tall Benton was, so she didn’t have to worry about that.

She picked up a dark purple button-up and held it against herself. “This’ll do.” She quickly changed into the shirt, made certain it was indeed long enough to be modest, and opened the bedroom door to call out for Benton.

They nearly bumped into each other as Sarah went to put her wet clothes in the bathroom. Benton froze and his eyes widened when he saw her.

“What?” Sarah asked.

Benton’s mouth opened and closed a few times, before he stammered, “Could you… you change into something else?”

“Something else?” Sarah glanced down at herself. “What’s the matter? Not modest enough?”

“No, no, not that. It’s just… Not that shirt?”

Sarah tilted her head in confusion. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing, just… not mine. I mean…” He blew out an anxious breath. “Please change?”

Not his shirt? Sarah glanced down at herself again. Then she looked back up to him. “Alright, I’ll pick something else, if you want.”

Benton nodded, his expression gradually decreasing its panicked state.

Sarah placed her clothes in the bathroom. As she went back to the bedroom, she heard the muttered, “Should’ve returned that.” She quickly picked out another button-up shirt.

Curious, she placed the two side-by-side on the bed. The purple one was a little smaller than the new one. Made for someone about the same height, but a little more lean. She would’ve guessed that Benton had accidentally bought the wrong size at a store, but the purple one looked like it had been worn moderately. Maybe a charity shop purchase or otherwise second-hand? But why would he react so panicked to it, to her wearing it? If it belonged to someone he knew, like a brother or something, wouldn’t he have just said that?

Sarah replaced the purple one, and pulled on the new one. She left the bedroom. “Better?” she asked the man standing outside the door.

Benton nodded, and went into his bedroom.

Sarah stared at the closed door for several seconds. Why would Benton have another man’s shirt in his things, one that he reacted to so strongly?


	4. Chapter 4

There was one very odd coincidence that Sarah didn’t quite know how to interpret. Both men had the same containers of coffee and cocoa, in the same places in their kitchens, next to each other as though that was simply how they belonged. But, as far as she could tell, Benton never used the cocoa, and Mike drank a different type of coffee that he kept in a different cabinet. It was simply a strange detail, one that she couldn’t think of any reason for other than coincidence. Like with everything else, she didn’t exactly know what to do with it, or if anything even needed to be done with it.

Nothing else new came up. For several months, those little tidbits and doubts about her friends would pop up, but nothing solidified. At least, not until one evening when she and Mike were relaxing on his sofa, half-watching some movie on television.

Sarah turned her head to him, noticing Mike was looking down at his hands. A sudden urge cropped up. “Hey,” she prompted.

Mike raised his head immediately, relieving Sarah’s concern that he might have been drifting again.

“Come closer.”

Mike didn’t question the request, and scooted closer to Sarah. She put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him in to hold him. Mike didn’t protest or pull away. It took some readjusting for both to be most comfortable. But once they were, with Mike’s legs curled under him and his head against Sarah’s shoulder and collarbone, they settled back into the movie.

After a little while, Sarah thought Mike had fallen asleep on her. She certainly wasn’t going to wake him, and thankfully the tv remote was close enough for her to reach it and turn off the volume to give the man more quiet.

Not long after, Mike quietly said in a sleepy tone, “John would hold me like this… He always made me feel so safe and loved and…”

Sarah tried not to let on that she’d heard him. He’d truly relaxed so much to let his guard down to admit a man would hold him and make him feel like that?

But then Mike’s entire body tensed, and he quickly sat up and put a few inches of distance between them. He stared at her for several seconds, and then visibly deflated. “You heard that.” It wasn’t a question.

Sarah still nodded in response.

Mike dropped his head and grunted in frustration. “Damn it. I shouldn’t have said that. I-I…”

“John? He?” Sarah prompted. Those little odd details filed away in her head came back. She delicately asked, “The person who left you… wasn’t a woman.”

A number of emotions flashed across Mike’s face, ending with a quietly panicked distress. His eyes began to shine. Sarah could see the internal debate taking place. It took him a long moment to admit the truth with a single nod.

The pair sat in silence for a moment, Mike’s gaze staring down at the grey couch fabric between them. His tongue darted out for a quick second before he elaborated. “Yes, I… I was with a man.” He looked over to the silent television to give himself something to focus on other than Sarah’s reaction.

For her part, even though it was a bit unexpected, Sarah wasn’t… particularly surprised. With him giving her a minute to think about it, it made sense, his attraction to men. And him having been with one before they had become friends.

Before Sarah could get onto a related train of thought, Mike said as he glanced up to her, “I do like women, too.”

Of that, Sarah didn’t have any doubt, not with the times she had caught him looking at her with that coy smile that she had given him numerous times as well.

Mike nervously cleared his throat. “You… you don’t seem that surprised.”

“Not particularly. Makes enough sense to me.” She could see the subtle fear on his face. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to reject you or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Mike nodded, relief flooding his features. “Don’t tell anyone?”

“Of course I wouldn’t.” Now that she had the truth of who had been here before, her mind started scrambling to put the various pieces together. “Mike… you said… you said he knew about what had happened with the dinosaurs and Golden Age.”

Mike chuckled nervously. “Not hard enough to figure out something big happened, what with London being evacuated and all, and then me having to leave UNIT right after. He could’ve figured it out easily.”

He was lying, Sarah knew. He couldn’t quite meet her eyes, and he had an anxiety as an undertone in his voice. “Yes, but how could he know you had something to do with it, and that you weren’t leaving UNIT because you wanted to? Know enough to be that angry to leave you?”

Mike flinched. “He’s… he’s good at putting things together like that.”

“Or he was there,” Sarah concluded.

Mike shook his head. Another lie, but Sarah got the sense he wasn’t lying for himself, but for this other man, this John.

“He was there, had to be, to react like that. And the only ones there were UNIT and some of the regular army.”

Mike’s hand gripped at his trouser leg as he muttered, “You’re not an investigative journalist for nothing.”

Then more pieces of the puzzle easily slipped into place. Where Benton belonged in this picture, why she had gotten this strange feeling of something between them. “Mike?”

Mike shook his head and kept his eyes down.

Sarah tentatively reached out to put her hand on his forearm. “Mike… is he Benton? Is John Benton?”

Mike’s head snapped up, that panic from before returning. “You can’t tell anyone. Please, you can’t tell anyone about… No one else knows, and-“

“I won’t, I promise.” That answered the question with no shadow of a doubt.

“I-I… I won’t have him be hurt because of… because of me. He’s had enough of that, and-“

“I won’t do anything to hurt him,” Sarah assured. “Whatever rules you two broke by being together, I won’t betray your trust, your friendship.” She held the eye contact as his hand gripped hers on his arm.

But now, with questions answered, another one came to mind. Benton left Mike? The Benton she knew wouldn’t leave someone he cared about, someone he loved, hurting and in this much pain and distress. She could see Benton being upset for a few days, but to have left him like this? What was it Mike had said? That he hadn’t denied anything that night? The only way this made sense would be if…

“Did you tell Benton?”

Mike’s brow furrowed. “Tell him what?”

“What happened to you. How Operation Golden Age hurt you. How you tried to resist them.”

Mike slowly shook his head.

Sarah’s mouth hung open. “You… you didn’t tell him?”

“No. Because… because he deserves so much better than bad excuses.”

“Bad excuses? Oh, Mike, you’re-“ She stopped herself before she could say something accidently insulting. “You actually let him think… What happened to you isn’t some bad excuse. You were a victim.”

“Because I wasn’t strong enough. He deserves better. Better than that, better than me.” Mike breathed deeply, and it came out as an involuntary hitched sob. He swallowed to get a handle on it. “ Don’t… don’t misunderstand. Sarah, I… I miss him. I love him, still. But I… what I did…”

“What they made you do,” Sarah corrected. “Because they took advantage of you, hurt you. Yet, though all that, you still did your best to help us save the day.” She sighed. “And you didn’t tell him any of that?”

“He deserves better.” Mike’s left hand trembled slightly under the woman’s.

Sarah was silent for a minute. “And you haven’t tried talking to him since?”

“Of course not. I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t. I just… can’t.”

Sarah could see there was no point in pushing that point, and she fell silent again.

“Don’t talk to him for me?” Mike said. “I mean it. I can’t… I don’t want him to feel like… like he…” Mike snorted, unable to find the right words.

Sarah did have doing just that in mind. “Alright,” she agreed. She stroked her thumb over the back of his hand.

Mike took several minutes to process everything. He looked up to Sarah and asked, “It truly doesn’t bother you? Me liking men?”

Sarah shook her head. “Not at all.” She teased, “As long as you’re not into daleks or anything like that.” 

Mike laughed lightly. As it faded, he flashed his friend a little smile. “I do… I do feel a little better, all this coming out to you.”

“What friends are for, yeah?”

Now she had the full story, or at least a lot more of it. What to do with it now?

********

A couple days later, Sarah was at UNIT. Before getting to the real business of her hanging around today, she spotted Benton filling out some paperwork in an office. An urge rose in her to march in and start making demands of him. Or at least start asking questions. But this wasn’t the time or the place. No, she had to be delicate with this, and she wasn’t going to jeopardize her plan at the first opportunity.

She lingered a moment, watching him, remembering how his face would both become sad and light up whenever Mike had somehow come up. She might be betraying Mike’s request, but something good would come of it, she hoped.

She made her way to the Doctor’s lab, her instincts telling her two things. One: Mike had said another lie. Two: the Doctor knew more about them than he had let on when she’d asked originally. She really hoped her instincts were not wrong, because if they were…

Sarah smiled at seeing the Timelord was indeed in his lab. She slipped inside and locked the door behind her. “Morning,” she greeted.

“Oh, hello, Sarah. Good morning to you.” The Doctor waved from a counter.

She went over and sat on a stool across from him. “What are you working on?”

“This should become a way to amplify ESP abilities in Humans. I saw someone rather interesting at a show last week. You see, this part here…”

She let the Doctor explain his gadgetry, and only when he had finished talking for a minute did she get to her concerns. “Doctor, I’m going to ask you something… sensitive.”

The Doctor put down the tool in his hands to focus on her. “Sensitive?”

“Not about yourself. But uh…” She leaned over to ask more quietly. “Can you tell me how close Mike and Benton used to be?”

“How close they were?” The Doctor shrugged. “I already told you, when you’d asked before. They were good friends and made a great team.”

Sarah shook her head. “You said they were quite close. You didn’t use the word friends. Like you were trying not to say something else?”

The Doctor tilted his head slightly and raised his eyebrows. “You’re very perceptive, with an exceptional memory.”

“Don’t change the topic. I mean it. There’s something you weren’t telling me, something you couldn’t.” She was confident in this now.

The Doctor leaned forward on his elbows. “You know their secret.”

Sarah nodded. “Mike told me.”

“Then it’s good you came to me, because I’m the only other person who knows it.”

“Oh, good,” Sarah let out a relieved breath. “Do they know that you know?”

“They do. Ah, I think I see what you’re getting at. But, as unfortunate as it is, the status of their… relationship isn’t any of my business.”

Sarah let out a little hard breath. “You care about them.”

“I do. But they’re both adults who can make decisions about themselves. It’s not-“

“They’re both being idiots,” Sarah stated.

“Why do you say that?”

“They haven’t talked to each other since the dinosaur incident. They won’t. Mike won’t talk to Benton, and apparently Benton hasn’t tried talking to Mike.”

“Sarah, I know it’s sad what happened, but if they decided-“

“Benton doesn’t know everything about what happened to Mike.”

That got the Doctor to stop for a few seconds. “He doesn’t know?”

“Mike didn’t tell him why and how he got involved in Golden Age. He didn’t tell him that they hurt him. How they hurt him.”

The Doctor leaned back, and rubbed his neck in thought. “I assumed Mike would have.”

“He let Benton think the wrong thing. He… he sees what happened as a bad excuse, that it’s his fault for not being strong enough and all that. So he didn’t tell him that night, and hasn’t tried since.”

The Doctor closed his eyes. “That does change the situation.”

“So, I was hoping you could talk to Benton? He would trust you, listen to you.”

The Timelord nodded. “I could ask him to come in here soon, have a private chat.” He grinned slightly. “Just the three of us.”

“No, I shouldn’t-“

“In the Tardis, you can be hidden on the other side of the interior door. I presume you’ll want to listen in?”

Sarah smiled back. “Sounds good to me.”

Less than a couple hours later, Sarah heard the main Tardis door open. She was on the other side of the interior door, it half-open so she wouldn’t have to strain to hear them.

“You need me to help you with something in here?” Benton asked.

“If you don’t mind, Sergeant.” The main door closed behind them. “And now that we’re away from any potentially prying ears, how’s Mike doing?”

“Mike?”

“Yes, our dear former captain. How has he been lately?”

“I… I wouldn’t know. We uh… we haven’t talked since we took care of that Golden Age lot.”

“Really? Not once?”

“We aren’t… we aren’t together anymore. Not since that night.”

During the moment of quiet, Sarah wished she could see, but this would have to do.

“I see.”

“Doctor, what’s this about? I mean, you haven’t asked about… about us in a long time.”

“Alright, you’ve got me, Benton. Now… why haven’t you talked to him since?”

Benton made a low distressed noise. “You know why. He was involved in that whole mess. He was working against us, and… and he…”

The Doctor sighed. “You don’t believe that. Not truly.”

Benton exhaled through his nose. “Doctor, this isn’t… this isn’t appropriate to discuss. Especially not-“

“Did he tell you why? Why it all happened the way it did?”

“Not… not really? He just kept apologizing. That was all he could say.”

“I see…” The Doctor moved two chairs from the corner of the room. “Have a seat, Benton. I’ll tell you what I know.”

“Doctor, I-“

“Please, Sergeant. Do you miss him?”

Benton took several seconds to answer, “Yes. I still…”

“Then sit and listen.”

Sarah slid down to sit on the floor as she heard the two men sit on the chairs. She didn’t need to pay as much attention to this part, having heard everything first-hand from Mike. She did notice that Benton was almost silent as the Doctor explained what had happened to him.

When the Timelord was done, Benton let out a long and slow breath as he processed it all. “They hurt him,” he said quietly, an almost-whisper. “Made him try to do things.” He cleared his throat. “I did… I did think he was acting a little oddly when he came back from leave. But he said that was just having been alone in the country for several weeks, which made enough sense to me. Then a couple days later, everything got… busy.”

“He was resisting them, Benton. As much as he could. He didn’t let Sarah be evacuated, he saved me from the Tyrannosaurus, wouldn’t let them harm me or anyone else to the best of his ability. He told us exactly what Golden Age was doing, and he forced us to take him out so he couldn’t do any more harm. Given the situation, I’d say he did his best.”

Sarah put her hand over her mouth at the hitched breath from Benton.

“That’s why the Brig went easy on him, let him leave quietly.”

“Yes, he told the Brigadier and myself enough for us to understand the situation. He kept blaming himself for it, but it was clear enough. Would you court-martial him after learning he was a victim the entire time?”

“No, of course not.” Benton’s voice broke slightly. “I was so… so angry with him that night. So upset. I thought he had betrayed us, betrayed me, and that hurt so much.”

“Understandable.”

“So why didn’t he tell me? He told me how those Global Chemicals people hurt him. Why not this? If he had, I wouldn’t have…” Benton blew out a hard breath. “I’m sorry, Mike.”

“Why don’t you ask him?” the Doctor suggested.

Benton took several long breaths. “Maybe… after I’ve had a little time to think about it all?”

“Of course, I’m not rushing you. I simply thought you should know everything I do about what happened.”

“Yes, uh… thank you. Did you need me for anything else? I think I could use some time to myself right now.”

“That’s all, Sergeant. You can go.”

Sarah stood as she heard the main door open and Benton walk out. She waited until the Doctor came for her. The Timelord commented, “I think that went well.”

“You think he took it to heart?”

“I do. I doubt he’ll talk to Mike right away. But I think… I think deep down he felt something was wrong, but didn’t know what exactly it was.”

“I hope so.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Sarah Jane!”

Sarah could barely process the Doctor vanishing from sight to go back to Metabilis 3, the four men barging in just after, then rushing back out with shouts, when this new voice called for her attention.

“Sarah Jane! Come quickly!”

This time, Sarah could process it. Tommy’s voice, his strangely new one, right outside the door of Abbot K’anpo’s room. She hurried out, to see Tommy huddled over someone on the floor. She didn’t need Tommy’s anxious, “It’s Mr Yates” to know it was Mike.

She jumped over Mike’s legs to drop to her knees. He was on his side, not moving, face half-hidden by an arm.

“I think he might be… be…” Tommy whispered.

“Not if he knows what’s good for him,” Sarah countered in an attempt to get that thought out of her mind. Not until she knew it was true for certain. She turned Mike over onto his back, his limbs limp as they settled in a new position. His eyes were closed, his mouth partly open.

“Mike?” She leaned in close over him. “Don’t you dare, you hear me?” She placed her hand on his chest, feeling and looking for any sign of breathing.

“I-I’m sorry, he… he just jumped in front of me. They… they combined their strength and he took the attack.”

“Of course he did.” Sarah shook her head. Urgently, she said to her friend, “Come on, wake up, please.” There, she felt a very slight rise of his chest. She lifted her hand, and took a second to notice the thin dark line several inches across the left side of his chest. His sweater, and probably the shirt underneath, were burnt through.

“Cho-Je!” Tommy said, straightening up. “I think he’s dead.”

“No,” Sarah whispered, tightly grasping Mike’s hand.

“Not quite,” Cho-Jo replied after a few seconds. “Carry him to K’anpo Rinpoche.”

Sarah helped get Mike into Tommy’s arms, who awkwardly stood and carried him into the room. He better not die, not now, or… Sarah didn’t know what to do if he did.

“Oh, Mr Yates…” K’anpo said quietly. “Set him on the floor here.” He gestured in front of his chair.

As Tommy gently did so, Sarah sat on the floor and said, “Let me hold him.” K’anpo nodded, not that she needed the permission. She cradled Mike’s head and upper torso in her arms and on her lap. She soothingly ran her fingers through his hair.

“I’m here, Mike,” she quietly assured. “Not going anywhere.” Her eyes flickered over him, checking for any more visible injuries. When her attention returned to his still face, she couldn’t think of anything else to do except bend over to press her forehead to his and hold his hand. “Don’t die,” she pleaded. She mentally added, ‘For me, for Benton.’ If he died… how would she cope? How would she tell Benton? The Doctor was gone, very probably off to his death, so to lose Mike as well…

After a moment of quiet from the other three men in the room, K’anpo gently cleared his throat. “Miss Smith?”

Sarah raised her head.

K’anpo slowly reached out his hand. “Allow me?”

Sarah didn’t know exactly what the Timelord intended, but she knew he could be trusted. She moved back slightly to let the man lay his hand on the top of Mike’s head.

Everyone was again quiet, until K’anpo stated, “His compassion protected him, just as Tommy’s innocence was his shield.”

Sarah saw Mike’s chest rise and fall more normally. She let out a relieved sound as she watched his eyes flutter open.

The corners of Mike’s open mouth lifted into a smile. “Hello, Sarah Jane.”

Sarah silently thanked whatever miracle might’ve had a hand in this, and responded. “Hi. Hey, we thought you’d had it.” She tried to sound light-hearted, but her voice cracked a little.

“Well, not this time.” Mike took a few breaths before he slowly sat up, still partially supported by Sarah. “Oh, I feel fine.”

She shook her head slightly and tenderly hugged him from behind. He placed a hand over hers on his abdomen.

And then… then K’anpo regenerated into Cho-Je, and wasn’t that just confusing. But really, all that really mattered to Sarah in the moment was that Mike was here, alive and in her arms.

The five, no four, of them took several minutes to process everything that had happened, and that the threat was over.

“Where’s the Doctor?” Mike asked.

“Tell you later,” Sarah answered. She let go of him when she noticed his rub at the left side of his chest and hiss. “What?”

“Stung a bit.” Mike looked down at himself. “Burned?”

“You were, for all intents and purposes, struck by lightning,” Cho-Je pointed out.

“Right, yeah…” Mike blew out a breath.

Cho-Je came down from his chair to kneel in front of Mike. “Let me see?”

Mike gingerly took off his jacket and sweater, and undid the top half of his shirt buttons. “Doesn’t hurt much. Only… feels like a burn, I suppose.”

Sarah moved to see the dark jagged line, about three inches across the left side of her friend’s chest, over his heart.

“I expect it will ache for a few days, but I believe the damage to be superficial,” Cho-Je said after a moment of examining the injury. He sat back on his knees to let Mike redress. He smiled warmly. “I hope these events haven’t frightened you away if you still desire to visit here?”

“I’ll have to think on it, but I doubt it,” Mike answered.

“Then I look forward to seeing you again, Mr Yates.” The Timelord stood. “Come along, Tommy, we need to check on everything else.”

“Coming,” Tommy responded. Though he crouched down in front of Mike and pressed something into his hand before he followed Cho-Je out the door.

Sarah recognized the pendant necklace, and chuckled. She teased, “Shameless display of feminine wiles?”

“Hey, now. I wouldn’t call it shameless,” Mike laughed lightly.

Sarah’s amused smile slowly became concerned. “You are alright?”

“I should stop by a hospital on the way home to make certain, but I do… I do feel alright.”

Sarah nodded, and took his hand as they both stood.

Sarah looked up from the magazine she was only half-reading when Mike tapped her shoulder. “All good?”

“Clean bill of health. As clean as can be when you’ve been struck by lightning, anyway.”

“I suppose that’ll do.” She set the magazine back on the table, and they left the hospital lobby.

Once in his car, Sarah stopped him from starting it with a hand on his forearm.

“What is it?” he asked.

She didn’t verbally answer, only took his hand and leaned across the space between their seats to lay her head against his shoulder. It wasn’t a very comfortable position, but she didn’t care. Mike pressed his nose to her hair.

Who would’ve thought the little trip to the country Mike had told her about a few days ago would lead to all this? She had been so close to losing him today. Benton had been so close to losing him today.

And while thinking of Benton, he must not have talked to Mike yet. Surely, Mike would’ve mentioned if he had. Which meant tomorrow she had two people to speak with about today’s events.

********

Sarah finished up with telling the Brigadier about the Doctor having gone missing yesterday. She hadn’t done a good job of keeping her concern from her tone and body language, and the man of assured her things would turn out fine, like they normally did for the Timelord. Sarah nodded, and with that done, went off to find the other person she needed to talk to.

Sarah pushed open the ajar door to the radio room at UNIT HQ, and let out a little breath of relief at finally finding the man she was looking for.

“Can we do something for you?” one of the three soldiers in there asked her as she poked her head in.

“Oh, here for Benton, actually,” she answered.

Benton smiled at her. “Need me for something?”

“Could we… go somewhere else? It’s a personal question.”

The other two soldiers elbowed each other. “Personal question? I bet.”

“Sergeant Benton going to get lucky today?”

Sarah rolled her eyes and Benton scolded as he stood, “That’s enough, you two.” To Sarah, he answered, “Of course, Miss.”

As they left the room together, they heard the other two soldiers speaking quietly. “If she starts calling him by his first name, does that mean they’re an item?”

“Definitely. What is his first name, anyway?”

“Sorry about them,” Benton apologized as Sarah led him to the Doctor’s lab.

“If they were expecting me to ravish you, they might be disappointed.” Sarah smiled a little at Benton’s chuckle.

“Doctor not back yet?” Benton asked as they entered the lab. One empty of the Tardis and its owner.

Sarah closed and locked the door behind them. She sighed heavily at the empty space the Tardis usually occupied. “Suppose not. I told the Brig everything that happened yesterday, if you want to ask him about it.”

Benton turned to her and nodded. “What was it you needed to ask me about?”

“Mike Yates,” Sarah stated simply.

“Mike Yates?”

“You haven’t talked to him. The Doctor told you about what happened with Golden Age a few days ago.” She knew that Mike hadn’t been home for most of those days, but the point remained. He’d had an opportunity.

Benton’s eyes widened in concern. “You… you heard all that? You know about us?”

“Yes, I’ve been friends with Mike since that whole sorry mess. Doesn’t matter how I know exactly. What matters is that I do, and that you haven’t gone to him yet.”

Benton swallowed and took a moment to respond. “Sarah, it’s… it’s not as simple as that.”

Sarah leaned back against a counter. For Benton to use her first name at UNIT HQ meant he was quite anxious. “Maybe not. But he’s not going to reach out to you. He feels… well, he feels a lot of things. He misses you, he loves you, but he’s not going to make the first move.”

Benton sighed and sat on a stool across from Sarah. He stared down at his hands and muttered, “Maybe I was hoping…”

“Do you miss him? Sounded like you did when the Doctor talked to you.”

“I do,” Benton admitted. “But I’m not sure how to-“

“He nearly died yesterday!” Sarah almost shouted.

Benton’s head snapped up. “What?”

“At that Buddhist meditation centre the Doctor and I were investigating. He’s the one who asked me to look into the strange things there with him. He set us on that.”

It took Benton a few seconds to process that. He stood. “Is he alright? He’s not in hospital, is he?”

“He’s alright, by some miracle. He’s at home. He essentially took a hard shot meant for someone else, jumped in front of it.”

“And he’s fine?”

“Yeah, thankfully.” Sarah rose and breathed deeply. “He could’ve easily have not made it. And you…” She took Benton’s hands between hers. “You still love him.”

Benton nodded, slowly and avoiding the woman’s eyes. Even so, she could see the damp shine in them.

“Benton… John.” The shocked way her friend finally made eye contact told her that it was true that only Mike called him by his first name. She tightened her hold on his hands. “I’m… I’m not asking you to get back together with him. I’m only asking you to talk with him. Whatever does or doesn’t happen after that… The point is that he needs to, but he won’t. And you need it, too.” She stepped in very close. “You both need it.”

Benton took several long breaths. “You’re right.”

Sarah smiled a little. “And I’m not rushing you or anything. But soon? Doesn’t have to be today or tomorrow, but soon?”

“I will. I’ll think of how to do it properly, but I will.” He returned the tiny smile.

Sarah released Benton’s hands to wrap them around his middle in a tight hug. His arms came around her back.

“Thank you. For telling me.”

“What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?”

********

When Sarah visited Mike a few days later, she instantly spotted the blue jacket draped over the back of the couch. She put it on to tease her nervous friend. Then, when Benton revealed himself and as explanation for why he was there, pulled Mike into a deep kiss, Sarah knew things were right between them.

Their broken hearts were finally mended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all who read :D


End file.
